Round 3 Men’s Review

The Spartans and Ravens both came into their Round 3 clash with the momentum from their opening weekend wins. However, that momentum quickly died off for the Spartans after opening the game with an interception on the second play. Ayres showed promise at the QB position in Round 1 but wasn’t given the same opportunity to get going against a much stronger Ravens.

Completing 0 from 10 passes and rushing for a total of negative 2 yards, Ayres exited the game early in the 3rd quarter with an injury to his hand. Ayres is expected to miss this week’s game against the Wildcats.

The Spartan’s run game struggled to get downfield with the absence of starting running back Benjamin Gough. The trio of Pinner, Ryan, and the returning Callaghan all took carries in the game, with only Pinner finishing the game with positive yardage. The game was on the verge of a blowout with the score 28-0 to the Ravens at the half.

The second half proved to be slightly more successful with wide receiver Warwick Russell stepping in at QB for the remainder of the game. Russell went on to complete only 4 out of 9 passes for a total of 49 yards and a touchdown pass to WR Ben Rogers.

Spartan’s understrength defence also struggled the entire game after having to shuffle around personnel to cover the injuries from Round 1. The inexperience in personal showed, with the defence posting a whopping 31 missed tackles in the game. Despite giving up a total of 41 points, performances from linebacker Alex Sumpton and rookie cornerback Zack Mawhinney-Blake stood out among the rest.

The final score was 41-7. The Spartan Men move onto the #1 ranked South Brisbane Wildcats this coming Saturday. Kick-off is 6:30 pm at Bill Norris Oval.